In Kenner v. Nike, we don't have to guess which side will emerge victorious

In August 2016, when Colin Kaepernick, then a backup quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, was asked why he kept his seat while the national anthem was played before a preseason game against the Green Bay Packers, he said, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.

"To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street, and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder... I am not looking for approval. I have to stand up for people that are oppressed... If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right."

They did take football away. Kaepernick has watched less talented quarterbacks sign contracts as teams desperate for talent at that position have looked past him. When he accused NFL owners of colluding against him to prevent him from getting signed, the league asked an arbitrator to grant a summary judgment; that is, to reject Kaepernick's allegation as having no merit. But the arbitrator decided that the quarterback had provided sufficient evidence for his case to proceed to a formal hearing.

But Kaepernick's not in the news today because no NFL team has signed him; he's the hot topic because Nike, a Fortune 100 corporation, has. Apparently, he's had an endorsement deal with the shoe giant this whole while, but Nike has just signed another endorsement deal with Kaepernick, this time making him the face of the company's 30th anniversary "Just Do It" campaign.

You'd think Kaepernick being frozen out by the NFL would be enough to satisfy his opponents. But, no, the people who oppose Kaepernick for refusing to salute the flag of a country where racialized police brutality is rarely punished want him to be completely humiliated and brought low. They are like the children on the playground who withdraw their friendship from a classmate and then go around asking every other child to withdraw their friendship, too.

Speaking of playgrounds, Kenner Mayor's Ben Zahn is in a swivet that Nike has renewed its relationship with Kaepernick. So much so that he dashed off a memo banning Nike apparel from being bought for or delivered to the city's recreation facilities. We've got to assume Zahn dashed off his memo as poorly written and as confusing as it is. It seems the mayor is trying to ban booster clubs from purchasing Nike gear. If booster clubs are making the purchases, one wonders where Zahn gets the authority to tell them what they can and cannot buy. And even if it's gear being purchased by the city, should the mayor be summarily writing off a vendor as persona non grata? Does he have that power?

Condemnation for Zahn's memo was pouring in from all over social media Sunday. People far and wide were variously criticizing and laughing at Zahn's quixotic charge at Nike. "Kenner, LA vs. Nike," Twitter user @jonaschartock tweeted Sunday afternoon. "How will the global corporation survive?!"

Good question. Kenner isn't alone in expressing its anger at Nike, but it's difficult to imagine the groundswell of opposition it would take to bring this corporation low. For a long time now, Nike has been in the business of selling cool. Given that, the corporation would obviously rather be associated with the Colin Kaepernicks of the world than the Ben Zahns.

Maybe Zahn's just trying to get attention for Kenner because, seriously, nobody's paid this much attention to his town since that empty patrol car was parked on Interstate 10. But now, everybody's talking.

Only a person who knows he's not likely to be harmed by "racial relations" would pronounce it a less important thing than reverence for the Stars and Stripes.

In the Book of Job, the beleaguered protagonist makes a comment that's often used to illustrate a no-matter-what faith. After all his suffering, Job says of God, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." That is the kind of faith that black Americans are told that they must have in America. If government agents are killing black people, and if the government officials look the other way and refuse to holding the killers accountable, then black people are still wrong to be mad, still wrong to be disappointed in these United States of America.

Protesting Nike is just another way of restating the point that black people who challenge their country won't be tolerated.

Jarvis DeBerry is a columnist on the Latitude team at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Latitude is a place to share opinions about the challenges facing Louisiana. Follow @LatitudeNOLA on Facebook and Twitter. Write Jarvis at jdeberry@nola.com or @jarvisdeberry.